Close Protection & The Private Investigator Qualification

Vanquish Training Academy have announced that their 21 Day Close Protection Course will now incorporate the IQ Level 3 Award for Professional Investigators as part of their list of eight highly sought after qualifications. The Vanquish Close Protection Training Course is considered the most exclusive of it’s kind as it is the World’s first and only civilian training programme whereby, you must apply before even being considered to attend. With only 3 courses per year, they receive over 100 applicants per course and only accept between 4 to 6.

The changes were made by the course founder and international security consultant Michael Chandler who recently stated on his blog; 

"Earlier this year during one of my open day presentations, I announced a major change to the 21 Day Vanquish Close Protection Training Course. While it already includes Advance Surveillance training as well as Counter and Anti-Surveillance and several others, I have decided to incorporate our brand new Level 3 Private Investigator Training Course into the 21 day training programme.

In order to do this, I have had to make some preliminary changes to the course removing the Chauffeur Training (PCO topographical training and test) element and changing some of the course content around to better suit candidates who will now gain this additional and very valuable qualification at no extra cost. Since launching this course, the chauffeur has become obsolete due to a change in legislation surrounding PCO regulations and from taking feedback from past candidates who generally felt that it was a waste of time."

The full article can be viewed at https://www.michaelchandler.online/single-post/2018/05/28/Changes-to-my-Close-Protection-Course

As the SIA will at some point require everyone whom conducts a surveillance operation to have a licence, the private investigation company will need all of their operatives to hold one. On the training academy's site, they state;

"The announcement included the removal of PCO Chauffeur Training for good due to changes in regulations relating to topographical tests. But it also included the addition of the SIA Level 3 Private Investigator qualification. This is the award that will be required to apply for the SIA PI Licence when it is made available by the Security Industry Authority."

View their full blog post

The next 21 Day Course which starts this July in London will be the first to incorporate this new qualification upgrading the list of certificates that can be awarded during the course to;

• Level 3 First Aid at Work
• Level 3 Paediatric First Aid at Work
• Defibrillator Training
• Advance Surveillance
• Counter & Anti-Surveillance
• TSCM (Bug Sweeping)
• SIA Level 3 Professional Private Investigator
• SIA Level 3 Close Protection